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Amazon Polly

A cloud text-to-speech service from AWS that converts text into natural-sounding speech through an API.

AI voice and text to speech

Updated

Visit Amazon Polly (the official site)

Main use cases

  1. Add narration to an app
  2. Create IVR or phone prompts
  3. Narrate a video or short

Ranked in the order the vendor's pages put them.

Alternatives to Amazon Polly

  1. Google Cloud Text-to-SpeechSubstitute
    shares 2 of 3shares 2 of 3: Add narration to an app, Create IVR or phone prompts

    Google Cloud Text-to-Speech states voice cloning; Amazon Polly's pages do not say. Amazon Polly lists cli; Google Cloud Text-to-Speech's pages do not say. Google Cloud Text-to-Speech states a free plan; Amazon Polly's pages do not say.

  2. SpeechifyPartial overlap
    shares 1 of 3shares 1 of 3: Add narration to an app

    Speechify states voice cloning, speech to text, voice consent verification and 1 more; Amazon Polly's pages do not say. Amazon Polly states phone or telephony integration; Speechify's pages do not say. Amazon Polly lists cli; Speechify's pages do not say.

  3. CartesiaPartial overlap
    shares 1 of 3shares 1 of 3: Add narration to an app

    Cartesia states self-hosted or on-device deployment; Amazon Polly states no self-hosted or on-device deployment. Amazon Polly states pre-built voice library, emotion or style control, SSML or markup control and 2 more; Cartesia's pages do not say. Cartesia states voice cloning and speech to text; Amazon Polly's pages do not say.

  4. ElevenLabsPartial overlap
    shares 1 of 3shares 1 of 3: Narrate a video or short

    ElevenLabs states self-hosted or on-device deployment; Amazon Polly states no self-hosted or on-device deployment. ElevenLabs states voice cloning, speech to text and video dubbing; Amazon Polly's pages do not say. Amazon Polly states SSML or markup control; ElevenLabs' pages do not say.

Amazon Polly next to its top 4 alternatives

Each cell is what the vendor's own pages state. Unknown means the pages do not say, which is not the same as no. Where a no rests on a figure, the cell shows the figure.

FeatureAmazon PollyGoogle Cloud Text-to-SpeechSpeechifyCartesiaElevenLabs
Text-to-speech APIYes1Yes5Yes7Yes10Yes12
Voice cloningUnknownYes5Yes7Yes11Yes13
Pre-built voice libraryYes2Yes5Yes8UnknownYes13
Multilingual voicesYes2Yes5Yes8Yes11Yes13
Emotion or style controlYes1Yes5Yes7UnknownYes13
Real-time streaming outputYes1Yes5Yes7Yes11Yes13
Speech to textUnknownUnknownYes8Yes11Yes13
Video dubbingUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownYes12
SSML or markup controlYes1Yes5Yes7UnknownUnknown
Long-form generationYes1Yes5Yes9UnknownYes12
Clear commercial usage rightsUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknown
Voice consent verificationUnknownUnknownYes7UnknownUnknown
Background music or sound mixingUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknown
Webhook or async job supportUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknownUnknown
Official SDKYes1Yes6Yes7UnknownYes13
Phone or telephony integrationYes2Yes5UnknownYes11Yes12
Self-hosted or on-device deploymentNo2UnknownUnknownYes10Yes13
Consumer reading appUnknownUnknownYes8UnknownUnknown

Feature list with quotes

  • Text-to-speech API: Yes1

    Amazon Polly provides an API that enables you to quickly integrate speech synthesis into your application

  • Pre-built voice library: Yes2

    Amazon Polly offers 100+ male and female voices in 40+ language and language variants

  • Multilingual voices: Yes2

    Amazon Polly offers 100+ male and female voices in 40+ language and language variants

  • Emotion or style control: Yes1

    Custom Amazon SSML tags provide unique options, such as the ability to make certain voices speak in a Newscaster speaking style

  • Real-time streaming output: Yes1

    Generative engine offers now also Bidirectional Streaming API allowing for streaming input and output at the same time

  • SSML or markup control: Yes1

    Amazon Polly supports Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML), a W3C standard, XML-based markup language for speech synthesis applications

  • Long-form generation: Yes1

    In addition to Standard and Neural Text-to-Speech (NTTS) voices, Amazon Polly now offers Long-Form and Generative voices that improve speech quality

  • Official SDK: Yes1

    Amazon Polly supports all the programming languages included in the AWS SDK (Java, Node.js, .NET, PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, and C++)

  • Phone or telephony integration: Yes2

    Store and replay Amazon Polly speech output to prompt callers through interactive or automated voice response systems

  • Self-hosted or on-device deployment: No2

    Amazon Polly is a fully-managed cloud AI service. You communicate with it using APIs in your code. You cannot download or deploy Amazon Polly source code in your environment

Not stated on the vendor's pages: Voice cloning, Speech to text, Video dubbing, Clear commercial usage rights, Voice consent verification, Background music or sound mixing, Webhook or async job support, Consumer reading app.

Sources

  1. https://aws.amazon.com/polly/features/?nc=sn&loc=3, checked 20 Sep 2026
  2. https://aws.amazon.com/polly/, checked 20 Sep 2026
  3. https://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/search?query=%22aws.amazon.com%2Fpolly%22&restrictSearchableAttributes=url&tags=story&hitsPerPage=1000, checked 2 Oct 2026
  4. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/, checked 20 Sep 2026
  5. https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech, checked 20 Sep 2026
  6. https://docs.cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs, checked 20 Sep 2026
  7. https://docs.speechify.ai/build/guides/welcome, checked 20 Sep 2026
  8. https://speechify.com/, checked 20 Sep 2026
  9. https://speechify.com/pricing/, checked 20 Sep 2026
  10. https://www.cartesia.ai/, checked 20 Sep 2026
  11. https://docs.cartesia.ai/get-started/overview, checked 20 Sep 2026
  12. https://elevenlabs.io/, checked 20 Sep 2026
  13. https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/intro, checked 20 Sep 2026

Updated